Case Number 21031

EMBODIMENT OF EVIL (BLU-RAY)

The Charge

The Master of Horror is Back!

Opening Statement

Imagine if Jason Voorhees wasn't a mindless killer with nothing but
revenge-oriented slicing and dicing on this malformed brain. Instead, envision a
highly articulate and philosophical murderer who challenged the theological and
political foundation of the very nation that spawned him, a masked villain
spitting on the face of God, convention, and the current ruling regime while
arguing for the superiority of Man, the values in humanism, and the freedom from
persecution and fundamentalist constraint. That's Coffin Joe, the unruly
undertaker developed by Brazilian filmmaker Jose Mojica Marins and immortalized
in such seminal shockers as At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul and This
Night I'll Possess Your Corpse. While playing within the conventions of the
genre, there is more to his unique movies than blood and dead bodies. Indeed,
Marins has used his legendary film status to rally against the crime he
witnesses around the world -- nowhere more prominently than in his own home
country. Now, 40 years later, the Coffin Joe "trilogy" comes to an end
(?) with the brilliant Embodiment of Evil, and it's great to see that,
even in the twilight of his years, Marins has lost none of his
psycho-sexual-social-politico nerve.

Facts of the Case

While many believed he was dead, the Brazilian legal system knows different
-- Coffin Joe (Marins) is alive. He has been kept in an asylum/jail for the last
four decades, serving his sentence for multiple murders. Upon his release --
much to the chagrin of the corrupt Captain Oswaldo Pontes (Adriano Stuart), his
devoutly religious brother Coronel Claudiomiro Pontes (Jece Valadão) with a
personal vendetta against the villain, and crazed priest Father Eugênio
(Milhem Cortaz), with his own family history -- he is met by his faithful
companion Bruno (Rui Rezende) and led to his new hideout. There, he meets a
quartet of devout followers and puts his final plan into action. Hoping to find
a "superior woman" to continue on his bloodline (and thus achieve
immortality), Joe kidnaps various women from around São Paulo, including a
noted scientist (Cléo De Páris), the lawyer who freed him (Cristina
Aché), and a local gypsy girl (Nara Sakarê), whose blind aunts know
exactly what he is up to. In the meantime, Joe is also fighting off demons from
his past, each one reminding him of the vile crimes he may or may not have
committed in the name of his need to live forever.

The Evidence

There are lots of misconceptions about Jose Mojica Marins, his alter ego
Coffin Joe (the title a loose translation from the Brazilian name "Zé
do Caixão") and his five decades as part of South American cinema. A
prolific writer/director/producer, he has dabbled in many genres, including
horror, sexploitation, and even Westerns. While the character of the crazed
mortician has been in many of his films, there are only three
"legitimate" Coffin Joe efforts -- Soul, Corpse, and now
Evil. All three follow the same pattern -- the character looking for the
perfect woman to bear his child while challenging the norms of the community and
church -- and all three use the narrative as a platform for Marins' often
blasphemous and radicalized opinions. Personally sickened by a State that
panders to the Cross and corruption, ready to ridicule the practices that paint
his country as backwards and a bastion of criminal conduct, Coffin Joe is a
rebel. He is a pro-human individualist who just so happens to use gore and
torture as a way of "waking up" the masses. There is madness in his
methods, but there's a clear message as well.

Embodiment of Evil continues his calling, paying homage to past
masters (Jodorowsky, Antonioni) while using the explicit splatter of terror
circa 2008 to underline his ideals. It's a very meta experience. The pack of
followers is also a nice touch, since it references the legions of film fans
worldwide who would, themselves, do anything (almost) to see Coffin Joe succeed.
It's also wonderful to see Marins referencing the other films in the series,
serving up past characters (Coronel Pontes, Fr. Eugênio) as well as new
fixtures to formulate his mythos. While the story is indeed simple -- find some
viable pregnancy fodder while ridiculing society -- Embodiment of Evil
tingles the brain as much as the spine. In many ways, the film is like listening
to a university lecture accentuated by members of a local traveling carnival
sideshow -- and then having them both scare you silly.

The violence is aggressive, but narratively warranted. Coffin Joe is all
about "the test" -- the test of one's will, the test of one against
the State, the test of man against God, the test of superstition against science
-- and he is using the same principle on the viewer. There are moments of
grotesque sexual allure, as well as bondage and sadism. But unlike
Hostel, which savors its vivisection for the sake of its own being,
Embodiment of Evil uses the updated F/X to cement the main character's
desperation and desires. He's tried seduction. He's tried logic and love. If he
must inflict heinous bodily harm on those who he needs to fulfill his aims, he
will -- and this is key. Coffin Joe is only trying to stay alive forever for
noble reasons. He doesn't want to take over the world (yet). He doesn't want to
forward some pro-Satanic slant. No, he wants to be around to condemn the truly
wicked and "out" the wrongfully empowered. There are scenes in this
film that remind us of Brazil's hidden shame -- the killing of street children
by the police, the destruction of civil liberties under the guise of religious
doctrine. While he may be a monster, he's a monster for mankind, not forces foul
or beyond the grave.

As part of the trilogy, Embodiment of Evil is an excellent send-off.
Equally good is the home video release of the title. Synapse Films does a
sensational job here. First off, they follow the product party line of such
companies as Disney and Universal in providing both a DVD and a Blu-ray copy of
the film for those who need both formats. While the original digital transfer
looks terrific, the Blu-ray is amazing. You can literally see the tiny veins
creeping across Marins/Joe's tired eyes. The 1080p suffers from no significant
issues and the picture quality is clear, colorful, and crisp. On the sound side,
the HD update is also very good. The use of ambient sounds (especially in a
Zabriskie Point inspired dream sequence to Purgatory) comes across with
crystal clarity and the dialogue is always upfront and understandable. While the
bonus features (available on both formats) might disappoint, they are still
worth checking out. The behind the scenes featurette offers insight into Marins'
directing and onset style, while the film festival premiere footage requires
suffering through some well-intentioned acts before getting to the main
attraction: Marins himself. Finally, the trailer trades on the past films in
order to set you up for the horrors here. While not extensive, the added
contents does fully support and supplement the main feature.

Closing Statement

If this is indeed the end of the line for the character -- Marins is 75 years
old, after all -- then Coffin Joe couldn't ask for a better send-off than
Embodiment of Evil. Four decades later, the character still has the snap
and sinister irreverence of the past while easily fitting into the more explicit
expectations of a postmodern (and millennial) fright fan. Sure, the horror is
not as pronounced as the philosophizing, and Marins does occasionally hammer his
points home with the force of his 16 ton gargantuan will. But in a genre which
often strives for nothing more than mindless mayhem, the brain and blood set up
of Embodiment of Evil is as refreshing as it is repugnant. Jose Mojica
Marins may still be a cult figure outside of South America, but with films as
fascinating as this, he won't stay that way. After all, there is more to his
message than mere bloodshed.